Korean BBQ

Korean cuisine is one of my many favourites. Traditional Korean meals are well known for their side dishes (banchan) that accompany steam-cooked short-grain rice. It’s difficult to find authentic and delicious Korean food in Singapore. In JB, I’ll always dine at a Korean BBQ restaurant @ Stulang Laut. It’s managed by a Korean family. I was there for my Birthday and also Christmas.

I have always have affection for Korean cuisine because of their fresh vegetables and BBQ beef. Korean BBQ meat is often wrapped in Chinese lettuce, garlic, chilli and Korean bean paste. Super doooper Y.U.M.M.Y ~~

Banchan will be served too especially in this restaurant, unlimited servings!!! It’s a bonus when the boss’s son is always so cute sitting at the cashier counter hahahaaa. 

Some of my favourite Banchanssss

House Parties

Over the years, js & me had host a few makan session at our various rented houses for my M1 peeps. Sometimes we cooked, sometime we ordered catering. It was all in the name of F.U.N.. We have great time, great friends and great food!! It has become a tradition for our house, to host parties for whatever reasons we can think of.. Big groups, small groups… you name it ~~

November 2008 - Housewarming @ Jurong West.. Steamboat Party!! It’s was a big party as our house @ Jurong West is a 5-room HDB. We had so much fun and the last guest didn’t leave till the next afternoon..

December 2008 - My Surprise Penguin Theme Birthday Party. Catered food from Orange Clove. It started off with a dinner date with my peeps. Before I finish work, most of them had excuses and they have to cancel the dinner. Left with only a few of us.. we decided to just tapau food from the tze char stall & chill out at my crib. Then, in order to stall time, they made me smoke countless sticks of ciggie at the office while the rest (who back out earlier) speed in taxi to my crib @ Jurong West. Hahhaa… What a surprise~~ I reached home, slightly disappointed and then shocked!! They appeared in black & white (tribute to Penguin) and decorated my house with lots of black & white balloons!!

Orange Clove serves really delicious food.. Had been catering from the for years since this party. My favourite, their chicken rending & pineapple fried rice!!

December 2008 – Christmas Eve Potluck @ Jurong West. Potato salad & fried rice by me, Pinoy prawns in cocnut milk by js, Adobo by Jeanna & Roast chicken from BPP.

December 2008 – New Year Eve @ Jurong West. Just a small humble dinner for those who do not want to squeeze in crowded places on NYE. ‘Claypot’ chicken rice, peanut & lotus root soup, steamed egg, stirred fry spinach by ME.

January 2009 – CNY @ Jurong West. All dishes by ME.. Except for steamed chicken by wongsw. Again a small dinner after I came back from CNY holidays. Was trying out mum’s recipe without her guidance!!

August 2009 – Cooking Session @ Jurong West. Potluck dinner for no reason!! Sesame chicken, watercress soup & mixed vegetable by ME. Sambal prawn & ambilek kacang by vc. Tomyam seafood by tankb !!

December 2009 – Christmas Eve @ Bukit Batok by ME & js. Our house is getting smaller.. It’s really difficult to host big party anymore.

Well.. There’s a few parties in between that I didn’t take any picture or simply there’s no nice picture taken. =P

Linguine in Chicken Ham & Mushroom Cream Sauce

Surprise~~ Surprise ~~ Surprise.. The man sitting next to me in the office, JY can cook !! Hahaaa.. My daily source of irritation finally cooked for us.. No one would ever expect a big man like him can cook. It’s a real eye opener for all of us. JY we already love you and your cooking make us love you more!! You had always treat us curry puffs, muffins, Royce choc (my all time favourite) !!!

I’m really touched by his effort to cook for us.. Linguine in Chicken Ham & Mushroom Cream Sauce. Salute JY !!

Pinoy Favourites

I was introduced to Pinoy food during my 1st trip to Philippines in 2007. I was surprised that their style of cooking and ingredients used bears some similarities to the Chinese cuisine. Pinoys certainly love pork, fish and chicken like the Chinese. I love Pinoy food so much that I’ve learnt a few dishes and cooked it regularly for my “Kuya” (Tagalog for older brother). Presenting my favourite Pinoy food... taaadaaa~~~

The Pinoy Chap Choy. Other than a few varieties of vegetable, they use pork belly too. No.. it's not oily.. It's simply delicious.

Hahhaaa.. Laing - Taro leaves cooked in coconut leaves, chilli and lard. It looks shitty but it's very very delicious. PJ told me it's difficult to prepare. Mishandling of taro leaves will make your lips itchy.

The Pinoy Porride for breakfast. Pinoys don't usually eat porridge. However, I discovered this @ Station 1, Boracay. It's the usual Cantonese style porridge served with hard boiled egg, spring onions, fried shallots and lime. It's light and refreshing.. A great dish to start off your day on a vacation.

Kare-kare. Had this @ Green Belt, Manila. It is made from peanut sauce with a variety of vegetables, stewed oxtail, beef, and occasionally offal or tripe. It's usually served with It is often eaten with bagoong (Philippines shrimp paste).

Last but not least.. my beloved Sinigang !! It's tamarind soup based with pork, kangkong, eggplant, long beans, tomatoes and onions. It's the Pinoy dish that I'll cook at least once a month..

Pork Poridge - Canto Style

Cantonese porridge is cooked till mushy and you cannot see the grains of rice. Usually, Mum will add dried seafood like scallops & oysters to flavour the porridge. For me, I’ll top it up with colourful vegetable (i.e. diced carrots) to enhance the presentation this dish. I’ll also add bright fresh vegetable (i.e. spring onions, Chinese lettuce) to make the dull coloured porridge looks more tempting. As for the ingredients, you can use any meat or even the clearing-the-fridge stuffs. Today, I used minced pork and sliced meatball. I would prefer to season it with chicken cube instead of salt; it just tastes better =P

I’m cooking for PJ today, he is sick & will be staying home for a week. So I cooked a big pot of porridge so that he can have it for lunch tomorrow. Hope he will get well soon and go back to work. Everyone in the office is worried that I might get infected as well, super shorthanded since CNY LOLS..

Pinoy Ben-Tou

Bento is a single-portion takeout or home-packed meal common in Japanese cuisine. A traditional bento consists of rice, fish or meat, and one or more pickled or cooked vegetables as a side dish. Ben-Tou is a new nickname for my new hobby.. Co-created by me and Cass =P. Discovered Bento while google-ing & I fell in love with it.. I love cooking and why not make it beautiful?

This is my 1st attempt. – Pinoy Ben-Tou. Consists of Sisig fried rice, grilled chick with Mang Thomas sauce, flower shaped tomato egg, Broccoli & Star shaped bunny carrot. It’s tiring from poor planning, I’ve spent 2.5 hours preparing, cooking & decorating. But it’s worth it when I see my friends enjoying lunch boxes I made with love.

Sesame Oil Chicken

This is definitely a children pleaser dish. I can eat this with rice and only rice. Most children loves mushroom and chicken!!

Sesame Oil Chicken is extremely easy to cook.. Sautéed sliced ginger in sesame oil. Put the chicken chunks in and stir fry till ½ cooked. Normally, I’ll use mid wings, my favourite and it’s cheaper than chicken thigh. When cooking for children, use drummets.. children loves “baby drumsticks”. Add in canned button mushrooms, Shao Shing wine, oyster sauce and dark soy sauce, simmer for a few minutes before serving.

P/S: don’t attempt to enlarge this picture. It’s badly taken *shy*

Salted Steam Chicken

It’s a recipe from Michelle, she made this during our last CNY reunion dinner @ SG. The difficult part of this dish is to cut the chicken.. which I have yet to learn =P. She marinated the chicken with salt and leave in the fridge for a few hours before steaming it. The juices from steaming the chicken can be made into dipping sauce. Yummy~~

This is one thing I miss about Michelle, cooking together!! She can be temperamental at times, that aside, she’s a very caring friend =)

ABC Soup

I’m a Cantonese soup addict!! I love Mum’s soup so much that I learn all her recipes. I have no idea why they named this ABC soup but it’s definitely a child pleaser. All children love this soup.

You just dump everything in the pot & let it boil for hours – Carrots, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, corns, spare sibs and a piece of chicken breast. Mum say chicken breast enhance the taste of this dish.

Peanut & Lotus Root Soup

My all time favourite soup!!! I got addicted from Johnson’s Duck Stall. Their Peanut & Lotus Root Soup is the best (not inclusive of home-cooked version)!!

Boil spare ribs, chicken feet, dried cuttlefish, “Toa Tou Chai”, lotus root and occasionally pig’s tail (high cholesterol). Boil the peanuts separately to get rid of the “mud” or dirt first. Rinse the peanuts before putting into the pot of soup and continue boiling over medium fire.

Serve it hot!! The Cantonese style !!

My Famous Cili Padi BBQ Chicken Wing

This recipe is popular among my friends.. In fact, I created this recipe for a friend who loves cili padi so much. I was looking around my kitchen for ingredients & sauces to marinate my chicken wing for a BBQ party. I got sick of those ready made marinates so.. I look at my spices rack.. Oyster sauce, sesame oils, kicap ABC, pepper, cili padi. Oh yeah, I have the non-spicy version too.. for myself =P

Since then, every BBQ party, I’m in charge of marinating the chicken wings. Marinate it the night before for best result. While BBQing, apply the marinating sauce instead of the usual butter, honey etc and you’ll have juicy BBQ chicken wings!!

Tomato Prawns

One of my favourite CNY dish – Tomato Prawn. CNY dish means you only get to eat this once a year!! Not anymore, this is my version of Tomato Prawn, 1st attempt without Mum’s guidance – SUCCESSFUL!

You really need to get BIG prawns, lightly fry it and set aside. Next, you sautéed the finely chopped shallots, garlic and ginger. Then you add in tomato sauce, oyster sauce and sprinkle sugar to taste. When the sauce is right, put in the prawn and simmer for a few minutes.. viola~~

Japanese Tofu in Soy Sauce

Hhhmm.. I do not have a name for this dish. Let’s just call it Japanese Tofu in Soy Sauce. One of mum’s signature dish. Simple to prepare and yummy.. You just need to steam the square Japanese tofu and top it off with soy sauce, spring onions and fried shallots. Most people will use ready made fried shallots. For mum & me, we fry our own shallots. You can sprinkle some oil used for frying the shallots, for the fragrance. Then again, shallots frying take a long time.

Hakka Poon Choi

It's our second attempts.. 1st was for sis's 21st Birthday. Poon Choi Big Bowl Feast, is a traditional type of food originated from Hakka cuisine. It may also be found in different parts of Hong Kong. It is served in wooden, porcelain or metal basin.

Poon Choi is special in that it is composed of many layers of different ingredients. It is also eaten layer by layer instead of "stirring everything up". Mum's Poon Choi consist of:

1st layer - Cabbage

2nd layer - Braised trotters with white radish & mushrooms

3rd layer - Braised seafood (fish maw, scallops, sea cucumber, dried oyster)

4th layer - Abalone, duck meat, prawns & BBQ pork

We had this for our CNY Reunion Lunch on the 2nd day of CNY. It's a change from our usual 10 dishes Reunion Lunch. It took us a long time to prepare. Each ingredient is cooked separately before arranging it on a basin-like wok.

My Passion

I really love to cook for family and friends. It makes my day to see someone enjoying something that I made with love. I like to test out Mum’s recipes, my own way of showing Mum how much I love her. I’m afraid when she’s gone one day, no one will pass on her recipes. I’ve always want my kids to be as happy as I am when eating home cooked food. It’s a blessing to cook for your love ones.

I started this blog to share my passion and joy of cooking & photography, the perfect match. I do not keep a recipe book; all recipes are in my head and heart. Whenever I missed out something for a dish, Mum is just a phone call away. Don’t ask me the exact ingredients used because I don’t records such things. Ingredients are subjected to changes, depending on my mood. Not forgetting the measurements, I don’t either. This is how mum cook and this how I was taught =P